Hero Complex
by OhtarIstar666
Summary: songfic to "Run This Town" Bella, Remus, Sirius, and James ponder sort of life and fate.


Hero Complex

_Feel it comin' in the air_

_Hear the screams from everywhere_

_I'm addicted to the thrill_

_It's a dangerous love affair_

Bella laughs as the world around her spins. The screams of muggles and the crackling of flame call her to duty, her pleasure. The glow from the burning houses illuminates the destruction that follows behind her. Her black robed companion shrieks suddenly as a curse gets him in the back. Bella turns to see her young cousin's idiot friend twirling his wand behind her. Her cousin steps out from behind a pile of rubbish on her right and nods toward to his friend. Sirius, turning, begins to say something to her but she cuts him off with a _Conjunctivitus _Curse. He dodges and doesn't try to say anything else. His half-blood friend grabs her stunned (She assumes stunned because she doubts the friend has the guts to kill, unlike her cousin. They raised him too well.) companion and moves out of the way. She ducks as Sirius fires out as rapid succession of spells. She returns them in a volley. Their wands flash like sabers, blurs of a motion. Family feuds should have no place in matters of war, but this is too fresh, a gapping open wound that refuses to close. She wants to be the one to bring her traitor cousin in, break him and make her family perfect once again. Another time, she thinks as her left arm burns.

"Until next time, cousin," she cries as she Apparates away.

_Can't be scared when it goes down_

_Got a problem, tell me now_

_Only thing on my mind_

_Is who gonna run this town tonight_

_Is who gonna run this town tonight_

_We gonna run this town_

Remus fiddles with his robes as he waits for the call. He wants to help, save people. He doesn't have the hero complex of James, the sheer power of Sirius, or even the earnestness of Peter. He's too dark, too jaded from his curse, his life. He just wants to stop the cycle of hate and fear. Allow people have the same childhood as James and Peter, just let them grow up being loved and protected despite their flaws. He hates to see the orphans and the childless parents created by this war. He desperately wants to unite them. Bring the children to the parents, make them all happy. He mentioned it to Lily once and she said she'd suggest it to Dumbledore. But that would come later. First, they had to win; first, they had to fight. The call goes out and he Apparates away with Sirius, ready to fight.

_Life's a game, but it's not fair_

_I break the rules, so I don't care_

_So I keep doin' my own thing_

_Walking tall against the rain_

Sirius strolls along the street, assessing the damage his cousin caused. Ever since he left the family, he has been expecting this. Sort of. He expected that they'd come him, but not with all of this vengeance. He should've known. He made them imperfect, broken. He screwed up their little world, laughing all the way and introduced them to the rest of the world. They hated him for it, for the questions, for the answers, for anything else they could blame on him. He wasn't sorry for that, though he was sorry that his friends got caught up in it. At least, Remus had the sense to move out of way. When members of the Black family clashed, it was violent. Too bad she was called away, too bad, he muses, too bad. He wasn't like James or Remus or Peter. He had a temper and other major flaws. He had hatred bred into him. His family didn't believe in fair play or being different. Everything had to be perfect for the Blacks. Their children had to be perfect little pure blood clones who acted perfectly all them time and never had any blood traitors idea. He wasn't a clone. He made up his own rules and it didn't go over well. Later, he found out not all families were like that when James took him in or he spent the holidays with the Lupins or the Pettigrews. James' parents didn't lock him in his room for getting the second (to him) most detentions the school had ever seen. Remus' parents did hit him for not acing every test set in front of him. Peter's parents didn't try to starve him to death from disagreeing with their views. Their families loved them. His family didn't believe in love. He wasn't like James or Remus or Peter. He didn't have what it took to be a hero. He just had to make due with whatever goodness his family left him.

_Victory's within the mile_

_Almost there, don't give up now_

_Only thing that's on my mind_

_Is who's gonna run this town tonight_

_Hey, hey, hey, hey_

_Is who's gonna run this town tonight_

James paces, wishing he could have gone out. Sirius and Remus could take care of themselves, but it's torture staying behind, watching, waiting. They were his best friends, along with Peter and Lily. He'd take a curse for them. Remus said that he had a hero complex, like that was a bad thing. He didn't see anything wrong with protecting people. He was good at it, which was why he became an Auror. He liked to be good at things, appearing to do things effortlessly and most of the time he did. It didn't matter that sometimes he had to study in the wee hours of the morning to do it, just that he could continue to amaze those around him. He wasn't like Sirius, who learned magic just by breathing. In school, he was always a bit envious of Sirius' natural talent, his ability to solve puzzles and understand things easily. Later, he felt bad because Sirius' talent was a just survival technique he had to hone so he could survive in the hellhole he called home. He was glad that he had saved Sirius from his family, just as he was that he saved Remus from his self imposed exile and Peter from the bullies. He did have a hero complex, he realized, but it wasn't a bad thing. It was a good thing. It brought together a group of boys from mere acquaintances to brothers. His hero complex saved them all.

* * *

Obviously I own neither "Run This Town" by Jay-Z nor Harry Potter. I think that it is a given, but hey, you never know.


End file.
